Chapter 42 Serena
SERENA
“Wake up,” I sing, tickling the tip of Zadyn’s nose with my finger. He twitches in his sleep, and I bite back a laugh.
He is out cold.
I lean in close, bracing my hands on my knees, and blow on his face. He jerks awake at long last, clutching his heart.
“What the hell?”
I flop back onto the bed, laughing. “I’m sorry, I had to. You were sleeping like a baby.”
“Is your first instinct to wake a sleeping baby?” He sits up, smoothing his blousy shirt. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel good. Really good.”
“You look a thousand times better. Mar’s blood worked almost instantly.”
“I’m guessing it was pretty bad?”
His grimace confirms. “You don’t want to know.”
I shudder and move to the mirror. My skin looks amazing, and my irises are an even brighter shade of purple.
Who knew blue blood was Solterre’s best-kept beauty secret? They should put this shit in creams.
I turn back to Zadyn. “I want to go for a walk.”
His brows lift. “A walk?”
“To clear my head. There’s just been a lot thrown at us, and I need some time to just…process.”
Zadyn stands to his full height and stretches, his head nearly touching the angled ceiling. “I’ll go with you.”
I sigh. “Zadyn, really, I just want to be alone.”
“Being alone while we’re being hunted by Kylian is the worst thing you could do right now.” Grabbing his jacket off the armrest, he holds it out for me. “I won’t say a word. You can pretend I’m not there.”
I want to argue, but he has a valid point.
“Fine. I’ll allow it.” I slide my arms through the jacket and lift the collar to my nose to inhale. Zadyn clocks the move as he holds the door open for me.
“What? I like the way you smell.” I shrug.
He presses his lips together, stifling a smile as I duck under his arm.
The port town is small and charming, centered around a busy square. Zadyn and I walk the cobbled streets, passing shops and bakeries, peering in windows and keeping a leisurely pace. The silence is a welcome change after the week we’ve had.
“Are we ever going to talk about what Arden said to you?”
Welp. Spoke too soon.
I swing my head in his direction. “Oh, Zadyn. The key to a peaceful walk is ignoring your problems.”
“You can’t run from them forever. She called you a queen.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
He slides me a reproachful look. “Are you taking this seriously at all?”
“Not really.”
“Serena.”
“What? Nothing she said made any sense. All that stuff about me and Kylian ruling together? It’s insane.”
Zadyn’s jaw clenches. “The part about you being queen I can buy. There’s not a person alive who wouldn’t follow you to the ends of the earth.” I glance at him, surprised. “The other part—not so much.”
I decide not to tell him about the vision I saw of Kylian and me, happily married with children. Or that I would have died to prevent that from happening—from risking my friends’ lives.
“Say we did believe her—what are our options? Either let Kylian take over the world or get ourselves killed trying to stop him?”
Shaking his head, he says, “We can’t let him get any more powerful. We’ll find a way. No one is getting themselves killed.”
I let out a long breath. “She said the kingdoms are stronger united.”
“United against what?”
“I don’t know, she wasn’t exactly forthcoming in her revelations.”
“The only threat we’re facing right now is Kylian. I don’t know how much worse it can get.”
“Yet she insisted that I have nothing to fear with him.” I groan, racking my brain. “It’s absurd. He’s a monster. We know what he’s capable of. So to answer your question—no. I guess I’m not taking her advice seriously.”
We fall silent again, walking until I get the sense that I’m being watched. My awareness ticks up, the hairs on the back of my neck rising.
I turn. That’s when I see them.
Golden soldiers. Behind us and more up ahead. And if they’re here, then Mal is probably not far behind.
“Zadyn—”
“I see them. Don’t panic and don’t touch your magic. Just keep walking.” He takes hold of my hand, twining our fingers.
The guards up ahead are stopping people on the street, holding up flyers. Flyers with our faces on them. I watch them roughly grab the arm of a brunette around my same height and build. She gasps, cowering and trembling until they realize she has the wrong face and eye color, and release her.
We need to get out of here. Now.
“You!” someone calls from behind us. I jump, but Zadyn doesn’t let me turn back, forcing me to keep up with his brisk, steady stride.
“They’re right behind us.” I glance at him in my periphery, panic gathering in my gut. “Zadyn.”
I don’t have time to breathe before he has me pinned up against the nearest building. My mouth parts as he grips my face with unwavering hands.
“I’m going to kiss you,” he warns.
I nod, stunned as he lowers his lips to mine, shielding me from view of the soldiers.
The kiss is slow and sweet, and he tastes like something familiar and lovely.
“Excuse me,” the guard booms from behind him. My heart does a nervous dive. I fight the urge to open my eyes, knowing the color will be a dead giveaway.
I rise onto my toes and snake my arms around Zadyn’s neck, pulling him closer, praying the guard gets the hint and moves along.
A throat clears, and I hear a metal gauntlet land on Zadyn’s shoulder.
“We’re busy here,” he mumbles against my lips.
His hands slide around my waist, pulling me flush against him. Something stirs in my stomach as his tongue slips into my mouth.
I really have to fight to keep my eyes closed now, surprised by the kiss.
“We’re looking for someone. A female. Dark hair, purple eyes. You seen anyone who looks like that?”
Zadyn shakes his head, keeping his mouth close to mine. “Hard to say—I haven’t really been looking. I’ve got my hands full at the moment.”
I fake giggle as Zadyn clamps a hand on my ass and squeezes. A surprised yelp escapes me as he kisses me again.
Sorry, he says into my mind.
It’s fine.
I decide to refrain from telling him I kind of liked it, worried that might be weird.
The guard gives an annoyed sigh and leans closer.
“You know, there’s an inn around the corner. Hourly rates. You might want to explore that before you end up fucking against the wall.”
I have to bite my lip to keep from bursting into laughter, but as my teeth come down, I catch Zadyn’s lip. Hard. He lets out a guttural sound and crushes me against the building. The jagged stone digs into my back, and a little gasp slips past my defenses.
For a moment, I forget the soldiers completely as Zadyn and I continue to kiss, a strange hunger building between us. He tilts his head, deepening the kiss, and I let my tongue collide with his.
It’s just acting. To an outsider, I could safely say that we are giving the performance of a lifetime. But for that moment, that’s all that exists—our mouths, our tongues, his taste and smell, his fucking hands—
A warning bell chimes in the back of my mind. This is dangerous territory.
So what? I throw back, sucking his bottom lip into my mouth. We’re making out. What’s a casual makeout between friends? It’s harmless. It’s like the time in college me and Annie lost a game of flip cup and…
Oh, shit.
This is not the first time Zadyn and I have kissed.
My brain begins to turn over the events of that drunken night, and boy, do I have questions for him. But the way he’s kissing me right now is making it hard to form rational, coherent thought and is quickly grinding my morals to dust.
After another moment, he breaks away, breathless.
“Do you think they’re gone?” I ask. His forehead tips against mine.
“I think so.” Feeling him nod, I crack my eyes open, staring at his swollen bottom lip as his heart thrashes against my palms.
“Do you think they bought it?”
“Honestly?” he breathes. “I don’t really care.”
I laugh against his open mouth, and we stay that way for a prolonged second, our upper lips just barely touching—waiting to see who bites first. I hold my breath, thinking he might kiss me again.
Hoping he might kiss me again.
What is that all about?
Instead, he pushes away from me—the portrait of restraint.
He’s always so good with that. I wonder what he’s like when he’s out of control.
Unrestrained.
He searches my face, and for a second I worry he might be reading my mind in that strange way he does. Instead, he tows me toward the inn at a hurried pace.
As we pass by a storefront window, two strangers mimic our movements. I lift a hand, and the blonde, plain-featured female in the glass does the same.
I sneak a look at Zadyn.
He glamoured us.
That kiss was completely unnecessary.
But as I fight back a smile, I realize I don’t mind. Not one bit.